Lucky Kitties

The Millicent Roger's Miniature show was last Sat., Feb 19th. I had entered the 5" x 4" painting of Muffy cat titled "I Am Not Amused" which I had actually painted for this show last year, but I didn't get it finished in time so I entered the watercolor "Look What The Human Dragged In" in it's place.

I didn't expect the watercolor cat with attitude to sell because the watercolor roses I painted the first year I entered didn't sell. Then again, the yellow daisies painted in oil on canvas didn't sell the second year.

I was holding my breath because I thought that the painting selling last year, my third try, was a fluke. If the second cat sold, maybe I was on to something.

I was able to exhale when I saw that my painting was one of the 33 that sold that night out of about 157 entered. The gallery does take 45% of the sale which is really fair for all their work in promoting the show and it is a fund raiser to keep the museum going.

So far, the cats are up two and flowers down two. At least for this show. Let's hear it for little purry mammals!

Relationships

My challenge theme for February is relationships. I have about five paintings in various stages of completion, but I wanted to get the first one I have completed, titled "Cat and Mouse" posted. I like that I now have four paintings related to doorways. It feels like a series! Has anyone seen a greeting card company that might like this style?

I spent today getting pictures ready of the paintings I plan on posting on e-bay soon. This took all of my "painting time" today, but I am determined to keep this goal of getting actual work out to sell this month. I am grateful that I have a relationship with Jeff, because he has been invaluable in sharing his "how to" knowledge of e-bay.

I am also grateful for all of you who have encouraged me and voted for "In The Shadows", I made 2185 out of 5000 entries! Thank you!

New Year

I set a goal to paint with more concepts in mind, and for the month of January I considered new beginnings. This got me thinking about doorways and the anticipation or dread of going into unknown territory.

I liked the "Waiting" painting so much because it sent me back through our travels in Greece and the many doorways and cats that we saw there. I wanted to explore more of those themes.

"In the Shadows" was inspired by our trip to an abandoned silk factory. I wanted to capture the warmth of the red bricks exposed in the heart of the walls in contrast to the cold concrete. I also wanted to have some of the sense of mystery of "what is in the next room".

"Safe Passage" reflects the sense of hope I feel looking forward to the coming year after being in a twilight of worry for the last few months. A golden cat, for me, represents a good messenger and guide.

"Fortune Teller" is the desire we feel in wanting to know the future, but we can only see such a small part of what is ahead of us. All the constellations of the zodiac are there, but can they really tell us anything?

"Fire and Ice", the leaves caught in the winter ice by our spring and "Sheer Gold", the one amber iris I had bloom this summer are part of those beautiful moments that I just love to capture and share. I hope you will enjoy them too.

PS: I entered "In the Shadows" in the Saachi Gallery Showdown 3, a free online gallery for any artist. If you would like the fun of being an Art Critic, click on the link in my "also like"list and then enter my name in the "Search for" box. When you click to vote, you get to sign up for free on their site and then vote away! Have fun! (You get to vote for me vs. another artist, and then for all the others you want--feel the power!) The winning artists get $500.00 and the publicity.

The Third Time IS the Charm!

After some introspection, I set a goal for this new year that is easy to remember and that I thought I truly needed. This is it: "Less Stress; Generate Joy". I don't usually do the whole "goal" thing because I usually end up so frustrated since I set such unrealistic expectations for myself. But in the interest of following the advice of Eric Maisel in "Coaching the Artist Within", I needed to set a "purpose" for my creative life.

The deadline for the Millicent Rogers Museum show was a month earlier this year. This is my third year to enter, and I had been working on an idea, but with all the craziness around Christmas I wasn't able to finish the painting I had in mind. Instead, I remembered my goal and asked myself what I could reasonably accomplish in the time I had. So I ordered a frame for the the acrylic painting of "Oh My, Look What the Human Dragged In" and submitted that piece on time.

The opening for the show was this last Saturday, Feb 20th. After finding where my painting was hanging in the show, we made another round in the gallery to choose our favorites to vote for the "people's choice" awards. When we made it back to my painting to give it one last look before going home, Jeff noticed that it had sold! This was particularly sweet since there were some big name local artist's who hadn't sold their pieces yet. I felt particularly rewarded for choosing to have "less stress" and boy, did that sale generate some joy!

Jeff Corner: Now I'll never NOT be able to take pictures of cats...

"Take A Whack At It..."

"You can't hit a home run unless you step up to the plate." This was the advice from the card from the "Whack Pack" which I drew a few weeks ago when I was dithering about how to proceed on an idea for a painting I wanted to do. I was hoping to finish this new painting of a small disdainful Muffy cat in time for the Millicent Roger Museum's annual miniature show.

As usual, I was trying to know the end from the beginning and forgetting that often the answer comes while you are working on the painting. I came up with the idea of collaging a fictional news story behind Muffy, explaining why she looked so disgusted. I liked the idea, but I wasn't sure how to get the typewritten piece to put behind her and I worried that it might be too distracting from the main painting.

That advice was just what I needed to get moving instead of thinking. I wrote my story on the computer and then copied it onto a sheet of tracing paper. I ordered the picture frame I thought might work on line. I made several scale copies of Muffy's photo so I could see what size image would work best on a tiny 5"x 4" canvas. Finally, I got to the painting.

I made the right decision by doing a black and white underpainting of Muffy before I added the "news article" type. That helped so I could see the image as I added other layers of collage. I should have tested the tracing paper for buckling. It did get a bit bumpy when I put the collaging gel on it, but I decided to keep it anyway. While I was working, I remembered I had a piece of sheer green collaging paper that was just the color of Muffy's eyes. I added it over the whole image, hoping it would still go with the picture frame I had picked out. I had a moment when I thought I had ruined the whole thing, but I kept painting and I am very pleased with the result. It is different than I imagined, but I think it is better. Leaving room for the unexpected is a good idea.

Jeff's Corner: Paint first, ask questions later!

Tiny Fun

I wanted to do a small painting for a card for a "get well" card for a friend. I decided to use one of my photos of cats from Greece, mainly because this friend is a great lover of cats.

I haven't tried painting with acrylics on watercolor paper for at least a year, so I thought I would give it a try. I couldn't believe a 5" x 7" painting could take five hours, but it did. The happy part about acrylics is that I could adjust the cats face several times until I could get it right. The cat's expression was key to the whole punch line of the card, (see the photo title).

Since the painting did take so much time, and I had another sick friend, I decided to do a color copy of the card onto good photo paper. The color density of the acrylics made for beautiful copies. Another plus for acrylics!

I just got the entrance form for the Millicent Roger's Museum miniature show for this year, and this painting gave me some ideas for my entry. Needless to say, I have small cats on my mind.

Jeff's Corner: "Morris, time for din din!"

Miniatures Show

This Saturday, Feb 21st, was the opening for the miniatures show at the Millicent Rogers Museum. "Miniatures" was defined as any artwork that measured less than 10"x 10"inches. Paintings did not have to include the frames in that measurement. The museum has been hosting this show for artists living in the county for the last six years. Last year was my first year participating and this was Jeff's first year.

We were able to invite a few friends as our guests and apparently everyone else did the same because the opening was very well attended. A new feature this year was to have those attending vote for their three favorite artworks. With two hundred artists participating, it was hard to choose just three! Besides paintings, there were wood carvings, pottery, and jewelry.

It was an enjoyable evening. We have been to many excellent art shows for the artist we work for, but it was really fun for us to have our own work in the show for a change. There were some works there by some really well known artists in our area and it was great to be in the same show with them. Best of all was that we were able to meet our goal to be there.

And I personally think that Jeff's painting was the best "church" painting at the show.

Jeff's Corner: So do I!

The Saga Continues...

We had been hoping for a spring show of our artwork at a local resort as many of the great readers of this blog know. We received an e-mail this week from the art director that the General Manager decided that he wanted a "consistent" look, so he is going to continue with one artist they are showing already and not use us!

It just goes to show that the lesson from last week of pleasing ourselves was the best lesson possible. I have to admit, I was a bit relieved because I have been working so hard on paintings every spare minute I had in order to try and meet that deadline. It was nice to feel like maybe we could go snowboarding on a weekend and not feel guilty about it. We haven't gone at all this winter. At the same time, I do feel a bit let down not having a specific goal to meet. But, I am confident that with a little research and thought, I can come up with another one.

Speaking of other goals, we are submitting a painting each to a "miniatures show" at a local museum. This is full circle for me, since I did some watercolor paintings for this same show last year. It was the first thing I did in honor of making the resolution to myself to start making artwork again. The really great thing is that this year, Jeff has one to enter too.

Jeff's Corner: It's no use forcing a square peg into a round hole.

What I Learned From Art School

"Memory" 7"x 5" watercolor, © 2008 

"Cupid" 7"x 5" watercolor, © 2008

I am grateful that I learned a great deal about design and the elements that add to interesting art. Also, all the art history I learned has been helpful to me. What hasn't been so helpful is the belief that if your art isn't brilliant and cutting edge then there is no point in trying. I certainly didn't want to be mediocre, and I judged my fascination with painting light passing through flower petals to be just that. Expectation of brilliance is a real creativity killer, only I didn't know that twenty years ago.

I also learned that your art isn't worth anything unless someone else tells you it is. It never dawned on me that if it mattered to me, it was worth something. Eric Maisel in his book "Coaching the Artist Within" said it beautifully: "If you don't really think that you, your ideas, or your work matter, you won't have the motivational juice to create." That is the key I had been missing for so long. So much of the focus at school was how to make great art, which is good, but very little on how to keep being an artist and survive in the world once you leave art school. Frankly, I don't think they knew what to tell us. Good luck! Hopefully you will be able to pay the bills!

There is something about creating that feeds the soul and when that isn't recognized and respected, it manifests itself in negative ways. For me that was depression and sometimes anger at not doing what I felt I was supposed to be doing, but it didn't matter to anyone if there was another piece of art in the world or not, and it certainly wasn't brilliant, so why do it? So the argument circle went on and on in my head for years, until I finally read Eric's book and decided that I would matter.

This January my Talented Boss told me about an art show at a local museum that she had been invited to and told she could invite other artists she knew to submit artwork to be juried into the show. This was January 16th and the deadline was February 10th. I usually would have said there is no way I could have some new work ready in time. This time I said give me the information. It was a miniatures show, nothing bigger than 8x10, frame included, so that was good. I had to do some creative things with time, but I made the deadline with two paintings to submit. Much to my surprise and delight I was juried in; both paintings were accepted. Going to the show was such fun. I had been to many beautiful shows for my Talented Boss, and I took pride in what we had accomplished, but this was something different for me. I found myself wanting more.

My two paintings didn't sell. I didn't care. This deciding to matter thing was good. I am posting photos of the paintings without the frames. They are both watercolors of roses.

Jeff's Corner: It doesn't even matter if your "dumb ol' husband" tells you it's great...